Couple lose everything in blaze

CHALONG: A couple lost everything they owned on Thursday when the tin shack in which they lived burned to the ground. Thewa Hirunkerd, 31, a construction worker who lived in the shack with her husband, told Pol Capt Sanae Panmee of Chalong Police Station that she had started a charcoal fire to cook some rice, but forgot to douse it when the rice was cooked. She then went outside to pick some vegetables. The next thing she knew, neighbors were shouting that her house was on fire. The neighbors tried to put the blaze out with water from a nearby pond, but the couple’s home was consumed in about 30 minutes. The couple lost a color TV, a stereo set, construction tools, an electric fan, and almost 100,000 baht in cash. Police have contacted the Public Welfare Department to get help for them.